Snowbound With The Baronet (24 page)

“Not ill?” Cassandra pulled back from him far enough to examine his countenance. She dashed the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. “I don’t understand. Your cousin’s letter said—”

“I can well imagine what it said.” Brandon hoped she would not be too vexed when she learned the truth. “I shall have to lecture Imogene on the evils of deception, though it will not be easy when I am so pleased with the result.”

“What have I done?” Cassandra tried to hide her face in her hands. “I burst in here like a raging lunatic!”

“No!” Brandon sat up then lifted Cassandra onto the chaise beside him. “You did what I would have done if I had received such a letter about you. In fact, I had every intention of calling at Noughtly Hall before I left Somerset. You may ask Imogene if you do not believe me. On second thought, perhaps my cousin is not the best witness in my defense.”

He braced for a blast—perhaps accusations that he had put Imogene up to this cruel trick. Instead, Cassandra broke into wild laughter.

That had to be a good sign.

He must act swiftly, while her guard was down. “Whatever the reason for visiting your great-aunt, I swear it will not alter my feelings for you. If you are disgraced, time and marriage will remedy that. If you are with child, I will raise it and love it as my own.”

His words turned Cassandra’s laughter to astonishment. “You would do that for me? What if I bore a son?”

So that was her secret. During several long, dark nights, Brandon had confronted the possibility. He’d struggled with many aspects of such a situation, but in the end love had conquered all his reservations.

“If that is the case, the child would be my heir, as my brother is now. My father might not have approved, but I am done with allowing the mistakes of the past to poison my future...
our
future.”

Since Cassandra seemed lost for words, Brandon rattled on. “Speaking of that, I have decided to contact my brother when I return to London. Hugh is no more responsible for the troubles in our family than I am. I hope we can be more like brothers in future, or at least friends.”

Cassandra recovered her voice. “I believe such a connection will enrich your life immeasurably. Now, if you are willing to do so much for the sake of love, I must match your courageous example. The truth is, I am not with child nor have I been disgraced. Either would be impossible, since I have scarcely looked at another man since I first fell in love with you.”

“You haven’t... in all that time?” Suddenly Brandon knew how she must have felt when she discovered he was not ill—overwhelmed with relief but rather foolish as well.

Cassandra shook her head. “Never once. Though, in recent years it required no special effort. Suitors are not much interested in a lady my age unless she has a substantial fortune. I have scarcely a penny to my name.”

She explained how her father had not survived long enough as Duke of Norland to provide for his daughters’ futures. After everything she had told him about the man, Brandon doubted he would have made it a priority.

“I went to Noughtly Hall to act as a companion to my great-aunt,” Cassandra continued, “in exchange for my keep and a Season for Evie. That was the secret I could not bring myself to share with you. It seems ridiculous now to have kept it from you. But I hated to burden you with my penniless family. I could not bear to have you wed me out of pity then spend the rest of our marriage thinking I had wed you for your fortune.”

Brandon thought back over the conversations they’d had while snowbound at the Martins’ farm. “The things I told you about my parents’ marriage must have made you believe it would be impossible for me to trust you.”

Her sweet brow furrowed. “Would it not? If I had grown up in a family like yours, I am not certain I could trust myself, let alone anyone who would stand to gain so much by marrying me.”

“Would you gain so much by marrying me?” Brandon gave a soft rueful chuckle. “Nothing that would signify without the priceless benefits you would bring. I cannot imagine a dowry more precious than your wit, your spirit and your kindness. In return, I must give you more than the things money can buy. If you will accept my proposal this time, I promise you my support, my trust and my love.”

A soft, vulnerable mist rose in Cassandra’s dark eyes. For an instant her indomitable chin quivered. “Am I worthy of such bounty? I know I told you and myself that I rejected your proposals to protect you. But now I know it was stubborn, selfish pride. That is one legacy I wish my father had never bequeathed to me. I cannot place the blame on him, though. I knew my fault, yet I did too little to correct it.”

“Until today.” Brandon caught her eye and gave a roguish wink. “When you thought I was ill you cast pride away and flew to my side. If I am not mistaken, you made rather a spectacle of yourself.”

Cassandra pulled a wry face that lapsed into a self-conscious grin. “I did, didn’t I? Well, I would do it again... especially if it was not all a trick of your cousin’s.”

Their eyes met and both began to sputter with laughter. The harder they tried to subdue it, the wilder it grew. Though Brandon wondered what his fellow guests might think, he gave himself up to it. In that burst of mirth, he sensed a purging of fear, mistrust, resentment and other dark emotions that had grown up like a wall of thorns between them.

When their frenzied laughter finally subsided, they each pulled out handkerchiefs and tenderly dried the other’s tears.

Then Brandon slid off the chaise to kneel before Cassandra. “They say ‘the third time is a charm’ and I hope it will prove true in this case. For four years, I have loved you without hope and against my own inclination. Now I love you more than ever. If you will marry me, I am certain my love will only deepen with the years. Please say yes or I shall have to make a pest of myself by proposing to you on a regular basis.”

“Surely you cannot doubt my answer.” Cassandra slipped off the chaise to kneel with him—not a proud paragon on a pedestal, but a humble fellow supplicant. “It was assured from the moment I barged in here. I love you with all my heart. Though I hope to govern my pride in other respects, I shall always be proud to be your wife!”

Bath, June 1814

A
S THE OPEN
carriage drove toward Bath Abbey, Cassandra clasped the hand of her sister Viola, who was seated beside her. Across from them sat the viscountess, looking quite majestic in her full powdered wig, plumed hat and hooped silk gown.

Privately, Cassandra marveled at how close she and her redoubtable great-aunt had grown during the past several months. “Thank you again, Auntie, for hosting the wedding breakfast at Noughtly and inviting all the family to stay. It was a greater kindness than I deserve since I am deserting you to get married.”

“Nonsense.” The viscountess adjusted her parasol and dismissed Cassandra’s thanks with an airy wave of her fan. “It is about time Noughtly had something to celebrate. Your marriage to Sir Brandon certainly qualifies. I approve of him greatly for making a love match.”

“As do I.” Cassandra winked at her sister, which made Viola chuckle.

Cassandra’s affection and admiration for her sister had grown deeper than ever since her engagement to Brandon. Vi had been so transparently happy for her, so excited about every detail of the wedding and bridal tour. If she felt the slightest twinge of envy or regret over her own situation, she concealed it well. Cassandra was certain that even her rigorously truthful husband-to-be would not condemn her sister’s behavior as deception, but rather approve it as thoughtfulness.

“Besides,” the viscountess continued, “there is the family reputation to consider. It would not do for a daughter of the Whitney family to wed a wealthy baronet in some pokey little country church.”

“I would happily wed my dearest Brandon anywhere,” Cassandra declared. “Even over an anvil at Gretna Green.”

Her ladyship shuddered. “Thank Heaven your bridegroom has more sense than that. Now is it agreed that Miranda will take your place as my companion? That is unless you will relent and allow me to have Evelina, instead.”

Cassandra shook her head. “Brandon insists Evie must come to live with us. She and his cousin Imogene have become great friends.”

In the past few months, Brandon’s cousin had become a great deal more sensible and less apt to judge others based on their rank or fortune. Having been an only child, the young lady seemed delighted to find herself adopted into the Whitney’s sisterly circle.

The carriage drew up in front of the Abbey where a liveried footman helped the ladies alight.

Once in they slipped inside the sanctuary through the elaborately carved Great West Doors; Viola paused to drape a veil of tulle and lace over Cassandra’s bonnet.

Then she caught her sister in a warm embrace. “I wish you and Sir Brandon a lifetime of happiness, dearest Cassie!”

Cassandra clung to her sister. “I hope you and Miranda and Evie will be just as happy in love, one day! If it can happen to me, surely it can to all of you, since you are far more deserving.”

“I do not believe that last part.” For an instant, Viola’s cheerful mask slipped. “As for the rest, it would be a fine thing indeed.”

In her sister’s gentle gaze, Cassandra glimpsed a trace of wistful doubt that such a future could be in store for her.

“Come girls.” The viscountess beckoned them. “We must not keep the guests and bridegroom waiting.”

Viola took a deep breath and assumed a serene smile. Then she stepped forward and waited for the processional music to begin.

Meanwhile, Cassandra took her great-aunt’s arm. “It is kind of you to walk me down the aisle. I know it is rather unorthodox, but considering I have so few male relatives...”

“I am a far more appropriate choice to give you in marriage than the new duke.” The viscountess gave a sniff of derision. “He is practically a stranger and after the way he treated you and your sisters...”

The lady had no further opportunity to abuse His Grace, for the processional began and Viola started up the aisle.

As they proceeded toward the chancel at a stately pace, between the majestic columns of honey-gold stone, the viscountess murmured, “You might as well know, I mean to make you and your sisters my heirs. But you must not tell the others. I do not want them plagued with fortune hunters.”

“Oh Auntie, how can I ever thank you?” Cassandra whispered, clutching her ladyship’s arm tighter. Now Brandon would never have any reason to doubt that she had married him for love alone.

“Oh tush,” replied the viscountess, her austere dignity softened by a smile.

In spite of the grand venue, this was a private wedding with a modest number of invited guests. They had been seated in the side-facing choir stalls that lined the chancel. As Cassandra passed the places usually reserved for the family of the groom, she spied Mr. and Mrs. Martin, beaming with pride of the best kind. She acknowledged them with a grateful smile. Without their help, would she be here now?

Then she turned her gaze toward the altar, where Brandon awaited her. Joy seemed to radiate from within him, illuminating his handsome features like the magnificent stained glass windows of the Abbey struck by the morning sun. The same sweet fire blazed in her heart—all the brighter for the four years of lonely darkness she had suffered without him.

The soaring music of the organ fell silent and the guests took their seats. The rector opened his prayer book and began to speak the familiar litany of the marriage service. Cassandra felt as if she were hearing every word for the first time.

“Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?” the rector asked.

“I do,” the viscountess answered in a decisive tone that seemed to challenge anyone present to deny her right.

With a heart full of gratitude for second and even third chances, Cassandra took Brandon’s hand and pledged herself to him
for better for worse, for richer for poorer
. The glow in his steadfast blue eyes assured her that he trusted she would love him just as much as if he had not a penny in the world.

A few moments later, Brandon slipped the wedding band onto her finger and endowed her with all his worldly goods. But it was the devotion of his faithful heart that would be her abiding treasure.

At last the ceremony concluded and the wedding party retired to the vestry to sign the parish register.

While Viola, Brandon’s brother and the rector discretely looked the other way, Brandon claimed a swift tender kiss to seal their union.

When he surprised Cassandra by trying for another she blushed and whispered, “Is one not enough? Our guests are waiting.”

“They can wait a little longer,” Brandon flashed a grin of endearing impudence. “I have waited four years for this day and I reckon I deserve at least one kiss for every time I proposed to you.”

Cassandra replied with a delighted chuckle. “If I had known that, I might have been tempted to refuse you a few more times.”

“As long as you accepted in the end, my sweet!”

Dear Reader,

Thank you for buying this book! I am very excited to release
Snowbound with the Baronet
, as it is the first novel I’ve written intentionally for independent publication.

I hope you enjoyed this story of Brandon and Cassandra’s second chance at love. I have been a fan of this kind of romance ever since I read Jane Austen’s
Persuasion
.

In case you’re wondering (and I hope you are!) I plan to write more stories about Cassandra’s sisters: Viola, Miranda and Evelina, their stepmother Letty and perhaps even Brandon’s cousin Imogene. Though their father briefly held the title of duke, the Whitney sisters have not had an enviable life. Like the Dashwood sisters of
Sense and Sensibility
, the Bennett sisters of
Pride and Prejudice
and the Crawley sisters of
Downton Abbey
, they were short-changed by a social system that concentrated a family’s wealth and property into the hands of the male heir.

Now that the duke is gone, his widow and daughters strive to make a new, happier life for themselves, sustained by their love for one another. If you would like to hear about the release of future books in the series, be sure to sign up for my newsletter, which includes exclusive excerpts and giveaways, information on special sales, first looks at cover art and news about future projects.